Saturday, October 13, 2007

Why Al Gore Can't Run Again For President









Joint Nobel prize winner Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. doesn't appear to be all that popular with Americans according to a recent Gallup poll:




Thursday, October 11, 2007

CUSD #140 Administrative Costs Up 57%






At its last meeting, the Congerville-Eureka-Goodfield Community Unit School District Board waived the state provision requiring the district to keep administrative expenses from rising at an annual maximum of 5 percent.

Administrative expenses are budgeted at $363,800 this year which represents a 57% increase over last year.

According to the Illinois State Board of Education figures over the last ten years, CUSD 140 "General Administration" spending has increased 49%, while "Instruction" spending increased at a 40% rate.

The district lost 32 students over that period of time!

"Operating Expense" per pupil increased 56%, which equates to $2,605 per student.

Hillary "Rob'em" Clinton



"I have a million ideas. The country can't afford them all."

- - - Hillary Clinton, 9-10-07, to Boston Globe Editorial Board



Trick or Treat, y'all.

Monday, October 08, 2007

Eureka Public Library Budget


Wow. Hold your breath or this one will knock it right out of you . . .


According to their website, the Eureka Illinois Public Library District serves a population of 6,231.

Most libraries show a "registered user" base somewhere between 60 - 85% of their district population. Let's be generous and assume Eureka's is 85%. That gives us 5,296 registered users. We couldn't find current figures, but in 2002, according to the Illinois Library Association's own figures, Illinois Libraries averaged around $25 in spending per capita; $54 in spending per registered user. Let's inflate that last number for the ensuing years and call it $57 per user now.

Eureka's 2007-08 budget calls for $617,000 in operating expenses which is a whopping $117 per user. Salaries, Health Insurance, and Retirement Funding alone is $285,000 which comes out to $54 per user per year! Don't even get us started on what is termed "travel" in the budget at $10,500. That is more than the line item expense for periodicals.

In fact, the personnel expense plus travel is nearly three times the amount budgeted for library materials (books, audiovisual, periodicals, and software)!"


Something is seriously wrong with this picture.

"Sir, step away from the property tax trough with your hands in plain sight!"